THE Foreign Minister, U Nyan Win, accused “powerful” members of the United Nations Security Council of ganging up on Myanmar in a speech at the annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 26.

His speech came after the UN Security Council decided earlier in the month to put Myanmar on its formal agenda at the request of the United States, which accused Myanmar of posing a threat to international peace and security.

The decision was made after a vote among the council’s 15 members in New York on September 15. The US and nine other members of the council – including Britain, France and Japan – voted in favour of the motion, while four members – including China and Russia – voted against it. Tanzania abstained.

“Attempts by some strong and powerful states to impose their will on developing countries in pursuit of their political agenda, creates an environment of hostility in the international com-munity,” U Nyan Win said in his speech.

However, he did not name any specific countries.

“To our dismay and frustration, there has been glaring abuse of the mandate entrusted to the Security Council by its Member States by unjustly placing the situation of Myanmar on the agenda of the Security Council by alleging that it poses a threat to regional peace and security,” U Nyan Win said.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Myanmar has done nothing that can undermine the peace and security of any country, let alone regional or inter-national peace and security,” he said.

“The founders of the UN did not intend the world body to become a forum where some members with political and economic clout could gang up against a member state, and label it for what it is not,” U Nyan Win said.

The 20-minute speech also touched on the government’s democratic transition plan under the seven-stage road map announced in August 2003.
U Nyan Win said the government was trying to expedite the process of drafting the constitution at the National Convention, which was resumed in May 2004 after an eight-year hiatus, as the first step of the road map.

“It is indeed a challenging task for the National Convention to reconcile the different points of views raised by various groups, while at the same time trying to strike balance between the interest of the national races on the one hand and that of the nation on the other,” U Nyan Win said, adding that the government was committed to transforming the country into a democratic state according to its road map.

He reiterated that the fourth session of the National Convention was due to resume October 10.

On the subject of UN reforms, U Nyan Win said Myanmar was in favour of expanding the members of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories.

He also called for impartiality in decisions by the new UN Human Rights Council, established earlier this year as a part of the reform process.

“Although we want the (Human Rights) Council to become an effective tool in the strengthening of the United Nations human rights machinery, we are not giving the Council carte blanche,” U Nyan Win said.